Verstappen seals sprint win in Austin

A little further on, Perez was busy defending against Yuki Tsunoda in the battle for P10. Piastri soon joined the fray but it wasn't all going the Australian's way, before Pierre Gasly was hit with a five-second penalty for going off the track.

This battle eventually saw Piastre take the P10 into Turn 1, just when things were getting interesting up front. Sainz moved a second behind Norris and Leclerc was now on his team-mate's tail following their earlier duel.

As the sprint closed in, Norris – apparently struggling with his tires – locked up, allowing Sainz to move into second as the crowd cheered, while Leclerc was now pressing the McLaren. There were no such worries for Verstappen, however, who took the win by more than three seconds from Sainz.

Norris managed to hold off Leclerc for third, with Russell and Hamilton claiming fifth and sixth ahead of the Haas cars of Magnussen and Hulkenberg. Perez was ninth ahead of Piastre, while Tsunoda was 11th for RB ahead of Williams' Franco Colapinto in 12th.

Lance Stroll was P13 for Aston Martin, followed by the Alpine of Gasly and the RB of Esteban Ocon, Lawson, Albon and Alonso, while the Kick Sauber duo of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas brought up the rear in P19 and P20. The Finn apparently caught fire with his car's brakes at Turn 13 at the end of the sprint.